Which Gives Most Pleasure, Black Box Upgrades or Expanding Your Music Collection?

Posted by: nigelb on 14 April 2017

This is one of those topics that could have gone on any of the Fora on here, possibly I should have put it in the graveyard that is the Padded Cell. But I think it is worthy of at least a cursory thought.

I used to spend most of my time on here trawlling through the HiFi forum on the look out for the next super upgrade, tweak, cable, or whatever was going to give me the biggest bump in SQ. And with careful consideration, a home demo and often a hearty slug of cash the next SQ fix was installed and..... heaven. Well for a while anyway until the ever hungry ears and brain acclimatised and then the quest for the next SQ fix is being sought. Don't get me wrong, upgrades have given me great pleasure but that leap in aural reward often doesn't endure. We get greedy for more and more until the cash runs out.

While on the SQ trail, I noticed I was becoming bored with my music collection. Not surprising really as I had neglected it for so long as I was upgrading my system. So I started to follow the Music forum, in particular the 'What are you listening to.....' thread. As I have Tidal I was able to immediately sample albums and artists that looked interesting. Well now I spend far more time there and far less time here. As a consequence I have discovered a huge amount of wonderful music and artists I never knew existed. I feel I have spent far too much time (and money?) on black box upgrades and have missed out on the music. D'oh, such a daft thing to do.

I undoubtedly get far more pleasure these days playing wonderful new (to me) music on my admittedly well sorted system than acquiring the next 'must have' upgrade. With the big river and pre-loved CD market to access, great new music can be had for very little outlay, certainly far less than a black box upgrade. So the £3 (sometimes only a few pence plus a few pence more for delivery) pre-loved CD of my wonderful new find arrives in a couple of days, almost always in great condition. It is ripped on the UnitiServe in a couple of minutes and......blimey a wonderful listening experience that will last for years.

Posted on: 16 April 2017 by kuma

Easy.

If you've got the scratch, go for the black box upgrades.

If you don't, be happy with what you got and enjoy the music.

Posted on: 16 April 2017 by ChrisSU

wenger2015 posted:
As i recall the OP mentioned Black Boxes, and Music.
Definitely not veggie options?

I once bought a Michell Focus One turntable, which has a suede covered platter. Does my HiFi buying habit make me guilty of complicity in torture and murder? eek

Posted on: 17 April 2017 by wenger2015

ChrisSU posted:
wenger2015 posted:
As i recall the OP mentioned Black Boxes, and Music.
Definitely not veggie options?
I once bought a Michell Focus One turntable, which has a suede covered platter. Does my HiFi buying habit make me guilty of complicity in torture and murder?

Only if you put a Take That record on !!!!!!!

Posted on: 17 April 2017 by The Strat (Fender)

Kevin Richardson posted:
Equipment 100%. I spent the first 40+ years of my life picking my music. I'm odd since I listen to the same 10-20 albums over and over and over again....

Not odd Kevin -in one way or other we've all got that Desert Island list.

Regards,

Lindsay

Posted on: 17 April 2017 by nigelb

The Strat (Fender) posted:
Kevin Richardson posted:
Equipment 100%. I spent the first 40+ years of my life picking my music. I'm odd since I listen to the same 10-20 albums over and over and over again....
Not odd Kevin -in one way or other we've all got that Desert Island list.
Regards,
Lindsay

Yes, indeed. This is the 'golden core' of our collections I referred to earlier. I would imagine that the Pareto rule might apply to our listening habits of our collection and that we listen to 20% of our collection 80% of the time, or thereabouts.

I am trying to improve the 'quality' of my collection having been embarrassed for years by the stockpile of CDs I have listened to once and then never again. This came about from a mixture of impulse buying and not properly sampling what I was buying. With the advent of Tidal it is easy to properly sample stuff before I commit to buying. I can also 'relegate' the 'nice but not great' stuff to the Tidal 'My Music' listing and reserve the best music for CD and ripping or hires downloads (or of course vinyl for those with a TT). This is a more effective and rewarding way of building a collection in my view and I have saved money from avoiding those 'what was I thinking' purchases of the past.

This strategy seems to work for me. The only problem now is deciding what to listen to because I like my entire collection. Nice problem to have though.

Posted on: 17 April 2017 by Innocent Bystander

nigelb posted:

Yes, indeed. This is the 'golden core' of our collections I referred to earlier. I would imagine that the Pareto rule might apply to our listening habits of our collection and that we listen to 20% of our collection 80% of the time, or thereabouts.
I am trying to improve the 'quality' of my collection having been embarrassed for years by the stockpile of CDs I have listened to once and then never again. This came about from a mixture of impulse buying and not properly sampling what I was buying. With the advent of Tidal it is easy to properly sample stuff before I commit to buying. I can also 'relegate' the 'nice but not great' stuff to the Tidal 'My Music' listing and reserve the best music for CD and ripping or hires downloads (or of course vinyl for those with a TT). This is a more effective and rewarding way of building a collection in my view and I have saved money from avoiding those 'what was I thinking' purchases of the past.
This strategy seems to work for me. The only problem now is deciding what to listen to because I like my entire collection. Nice problem to have though.

You can also sample new things without subscription using uTube or Spotify - limited sound quality but adequate for deciding if you like the music enough to buy.

As for Pareto principle, yes maybe up to a point, but not for those with, say, 5000 albums! Most of those must simply never get played at all.

Posted on: 17 April 2017 by nigelb

Innocent Bystander posted:
nigelb posted:

Yes, indeed. This is the 'golden core' of our collections I referred to earlier. I would imagine that the Pareto rule might apply to our listening habits of our collection and that we listen to 20% of our collection 80% of the time, or thereabouts.
I am trying to improve the 'quality' of my collection having been embarrassed for years by the stockpile of CDs I have listened to once and then never again. This came about from a mixture of impulse buying and not properly sampling what I was buying. With the advent of Tidal it is easy to properly sample stuff before I commit to buying. I can also 'relegate' the 'nice but not great' stuff to the Tidal 'My Music' listing and reserve the best music for CD and ripping or hires downloads (or of course vinyl for those with a TT). This is a more effective and rewarding way of building a collection in my view and I have saved money from avoiding those 'what was I thinking' purchases of the past.
This strategy seems to work for me. The only problem now is deciding what to listen to because I like my entire collection. Nice problem to have though.
You can also sample new things without subscription using uTube or Spotify - limited sound quality but adequate for deciding if you like the music enough to buy.
As for Pareto principle, yes maybe up to a point, but not for those with, say, 5000 albums! Most of those must simply never get played at all.

True, but I use Tidal not only for discovery but also for serious listening. OK the HiFi version of Tidal is not quite as good as local streaming but it is pretty decent these days. For £20 per month I recon I get pretty good value if I consider the great music I have discovered, the so so music have avoided buying (saved money) and general listening sessions.